The shelter was a large house, white in color, with windows protected by bars and wire mesh. The front door was made of metal, and the walls looked reinforced.
It was a big, sturdy house, something only someone concerned about security would build. However, this house gave off an aura of danger and hostility.
When the door opened, there were no lights, and the windows were covered with newspapers. A little light came through, but it wasn't enough.
"I don't like this place…" Rei muttered.
"You can stay outside if you want," Allen smiled.
Rei shook her head, pulling out her phone as a flashlight. She didn't want to leave Allen and Saeko alone—who knew what might happen between them.
Saeko smiled, knowing exactly what Rei was thinking but choosing not to comment. Instead, she leaned toward Allen and whispered.
"Do you know how many there are and where they are?~"
Allen didn't get flustered by Saeko's subtle flirtation. Instead, he focused. He wasn't sure if there were mutants here. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on his hearing. After a moment, he opened them again.
"Two in the living room, one in the closet next to the garage door, two in the master bedroom upstairs, and one in the kitchen."
Saeko smirked and rushed toward the living room. Rei followed, not wanting her to take all the credit.
Allen could've gone elsewhere, but instead, he followed them, holding two phones to provide light.
In the dimly lit living room, Saeko could see the pair of zombies well enough. She paused mid-step, smiling broadly.
The emotionless zombie wasn't scared by her grin—it lunged to bite her.
Her bokken sliced through the air with precision, cracking the zombie's skull just enough.
The zombie dropped to the floor, and just as Saeko prepared to finish the next one, Rei appeared and jammed her stick into its eye. It collapsed to the ground as well.
Rei looked smugly at Saeko, who only smiled for some reason.
"We'll have to clean this up," Allen said, watching Rei's zombie spill blood on the floor.
Rei immediately realized why Saeko had been careful with her kill and cursed inwardly.
"…" Allen began to wonder if bringing these two girls on missions was really a good idea.
Competition was fine, but they let it distract them.
....
"Alright, let's move on to the next—" Allen's words were cut off by a chilling sense of déjà vu.
His gaze turned to a wall, behind which was a hallway leading to the basement door. He didn't know it, but the basement was soundproofed, which is why he hadn't heard it until it was already too late.
The basement door exploded into heavy splinters.
"GRRAAAHHH!"
A monstrous creature, all too familiar to Allen, let out a guttural roar that echoed off the walls—a sound that froze the blood and promised death. It charged through the hallway as if it knew exactly where they were.
The living room wall shattered, and the horrifying beast appeared.
Saeko instinctively stepped back, while Rei froze in place at the sight of the nightmare—its jaw split in half.
The creature lunged at Rei, eager to tear her apart.
"Not happening!" Allen, like a bull, rammed the monster into a wall.
Allen punched the beast, but it roared and swatted him away with such force that he flew across the living room.
The monster rose and attacked again.
Allen stood up and met it with a punch to its grotesque face.
The creature slashed with its claw, but Allen grabbed its arm and countered with a blow. Then it grabbed his neck and slammed him into a wall.
Roaring with rage, the beast pummeled him, then shoved him through a wall. Allen pushed back, forcing it through another wall.
The two of them tore through the house in a destructive frenzy.
….
"What do we do?!" Rei shouted in panic.
Saeko tightened her grip on her bokken, but as much as she wanted to help, she knew she'd only get in the way. Her weapon couldn't harm that thing—worse, she might distract Allen and put him in danger.
"Aaa… aaa…"
Bloodthirsty zombies appeared, drawn by the noise—more of them poured out of the basement where the monster had been.
There was no time to think.
"We believe in him!" Saeko sharpened her gaze, holding back her impulse to rush in after Allen, and instead threw herself at the dozen zombies.
"…"
With a worried glance, she watched Allen battle the monster, destroying the entire house.
She knew Allen was strong…
She knew a cure existed in case of infection…
But even knowing that, her fear didn't go away. Rei gritted her teeth and hurled herself at the zombies, venting all her frustration on them.
In the kitchen, Allen grabbed the monster by the head and slammed it into the counter, cracking the surface. He smashed it again, this time breaking it.
"Die already, damn it!"
The monster, its face mangled, managed to drive Allen away with a blow to his stomach.
Allen took a few steps back, his fists numb—it felt like he'd been punching a concrete wall.
The creature lunged again, claw slashing. Allen dodged, but the fridge behind him was shredded like paper. He grabbed a frying pan and bashed the monster until it broke apart.
"GAAHHHH!" the monster roared, swiping at him and leaving a bloody slash across Allen's chest.
"Shit!" Allen stumbled back, feeling like he'd been struck in the head with a hammer.
He had been infected.
His vision blurred for a moment, but he forced it back under control with sheer willpower and his abnormal body. He couldn't suppress all the effects, though—his blood raced, his muscles swelled, veins bulging, his vision turned red, and he nearly lost his reason… but he managed to hold on, though rage filled him.
"Ahh!" Allen roared, grabbing the monster's head and smashing it with a brutal headbutt.
He drove it against the wall and unleashed a furious barrage, his fists pounding through its armored body.
The zombie tried to strike back with its claw, but Allen grabbed the arm, roared with fury, stomped the beast's chest, and ripped it off.
The monster screamed. Allen screamed back, then used the torn-off arm to beat it down. He grabbed its leg and flung it into the ceiling like a rag, shattering it.
The creature crashed to the floor, and Allen stomped its head over and over. Even the floor cracked under the increasingly powerful stomping, until the mutant zombie's head couldn't take it anymore and exploded like a watermelon.
"Ah... ah..."
Only then did his vision return to normal. He clutched his head, exhausted.
'System, what happened to me?'
[You were infected by a highly potent, mutated strain of the **** virus. Thanks to your unique genetics, you temporarily suppressed the infection, but when infected, your body reacted unexpectedly, as if you entered a berserk state.]
'So that means I'm not immune?'
Allen had suspected he might be immune to the virus, but thinking it through, if he were, then why would the supply crates contain cures? Besides, Lucifer wouldn't allow him to be immune—his goal was to kill him.
[You are not. However, as I said, your body is genetically superior to a human's. Common virus strains won't infect you unless you're heavily exposed. As for mutated strains, it depends on the type—you can be infected. I strongly recommend going to the blue zone on your map!]
Allen smirked at the system's concern.
'Seems like this won't be an easy world.' He felt a bit pathetic—barely a day had passed, and he'd already been infected. Probably everyone in the Chat was laughing at him.
*Thud*
The sound of something falling snapped him out of his thoughts. Saeko and Rei stood on the other side of the hole the fight had left, both staring at him in disbelief.
'I guess when you kill one of those things with your bare hands, you leave people speechless…' Allen chuckled inwardly. But then he noticed something strange in their behavior.
Rei dropped to her knees, covering her face as tears streamed down.
Saeko, her bokken slipping from her hands, bit her lip until it bled, her expression filled with frustration and pain.
Allen looked down at the bloody slash across his chest. That creature had broken his skin and infected him.
"Ah, this…"
Far from looking worried, he slicked his hair back and smiled at the two girls.
"Don't worry. I won't turn right away. I can feel it—while I'm not immune, my body's holding the virus back. I just have to find a cure before it takes over."
The words, filled with calm, overwhelming confidence, and a trace of mockery, made both girls settle down. Even so, Saeko quickly moved, looking for a cloth in the kitchen. After soaking it in water, she approached Allen to clean his wound.
"Do you know where we can find more cures?" Saeko asked with a frown.
Rei also got up and ran to a cabinet she had seen earlier. She grabbed a shirt and hurried back to the kitchen.
"For now, you should change. You're covered in infected blood," Rei said urgently.
Allen was left speechless. Obviously, he was already infected—wiping away the blood hardly mattered anymore. But to calm the girl down, he didn't argue.
"Fine, but it'd be better to take a shower first."
'System, I want to rent this shelter.'
[Checking shelter status. Type: Common. Tier 2. Clean. Reducing rental cost.]
Rei came closer and began helping Allen remove his uniform. But suddenly, the entire house lit up.
Seeing Allen's face and realizing she was in the middle of undressing him, Rei blushed and stepped back.
"Why did the lights turn on all of a sudden?!"
"It's probably because it's been cleared of zombies, I guess..." Allen answered casually. Still, he frowned. The place was a wreck.
'Shouldn't there be a discount given the state of this place?'
[If you want to repair it, there will be a cost. You can view it in your interface menu.]
"This is strange. Are you sure this place is familiar to you?" Saeko asked while picking up a vase from a shelf, studying the house. Ignoring the corpses and blood, all the furniture and appliances looked new, as if no one had ever lived there.
"I have vague memories of this place, but I can assure you it's some kind of safehouse..."
Both girls went silent. Allen's identity was becoming more mysterious by the minute. Neither of them was stupid. It was strange that a safehouse had zombies—and even a monster—trapped inside. It almost seemed like someone had prepared everything beforehand.
"Allen, don't you think someone's testing you? Creating these places and even leaving weapons and tools all over Tokyo?" Saeko asked, her voice uneasy. Saying it out loud basically meant admitting that this apocalypse was man-made.
"I don't know," Allen replied with an ironic smile.
He couldn't tell them about the system. Still, there was a chance that supply crates and shelters were integrated into the world's lore. It all depended on how much effort Lucifer had put into altering this world.
The girls didn't press Allen further.
He still hadn't decided if they would spend the night here, but it didn't seem like a bad option. Sleeping on a bus wasn't exactly safe, and Shizuka's friend's house wasn't nearly big enough.
Saeko and Rei offered to drag out the zombie corpses, but Allen told them it wasn't necessary. He spent 5 points on the cleaning service, and soon several cleaning robots and drones appeared, beginning their work.
The drones, looking like high-tech devices, latched onto the zombie corpses and dragged them out of the house. The robots came in three types: the first resembled an oversized robot vacuum cleaner. The second type had claws that picked up large chunks of wall, aligned them back into place, and sprayed a foam-like substance that hardened instantly. The third type had several arms with different tools, repairing damaged appliances. If something was beyond repair, they carried it out and returned with a new replacement.
The scene left both girls in shock. Even Allen was surprised—and grateful—that the system chose a realistic method of cleaning and repair instead of resetting everything magically. Still, these futuristic drones and robots made quite the visual impact.
Allen coughed lightly and told both girls to shower while he did the same. Neither wanted to think too much anymore, so they agreed. The house had three bathrooms. The one on the third floor even had a large bathtub, which the girls used while Allen showered on the second floor.
....
Once under the water, Allen checked his kill count.
Tier 1 – 134
Tier 2 – 00
Tier 3 – 02
"I want to ask—what should I call the currency I get for killing?"
[You can call it whatever you want. In general, it's not really currency but rather a "kill count."]
"Kill count, huh... I see, do you have any recommendations?"
[Hmm, it could be... Heads or Hearts.]
"134 Hearts, yeah, I like that."
Tier 1 – 134 Hearts
Tier 2 – 00 Hearts
Tier 3 – 02 Hearts
He had killed plenty of zombies along the way, but only Tier 1. That was a problem, since supply crates had specific costs that couldn't be changed.
A Tier 1 crate could be opened with Tier 1 Hearts, but a Tier 2 crate required both Tier 1 and Tier 2 Hearts. That meant he wouldn't be able to open anything higher than the most basic supply crates.
[Host, you may be resistant, but don't delay too long in finding a cure. There's a risk of suffering genetic alteration.]
"That's true... agh!"
While bathing, he felt pain in his chest. His wound throbbed, and his vision turned red for a moment before stabilizing.
"I need to find a cure..."
Allen finished showering and, when he came downstairs, the entire first floor had already been repaired and cleaned. It looked brand new again. Five minutes later, the girls also came down.
"This is absurd" Rei gasped.
Saeko grew pensive. "I had heard technology was advancing fast, but seeing drones and robots repair everything in such a short time feels surreal."
Allen shrugged. "Zombies are roaming the streets. A little futuristic tech doesn't seem that strange in comparison."
Rei shook her head. "Whatever. Let's just hurry. We need to find a cure."
Saeko agreed, and Allen didn't argue.
"Don't forget to place your hand on the door scanner," Allen reminded them as he did the same.
This gave them access to the shelter even without Allen present. Of course, that only allowed them to enter and exit; modifications to the shelter required the menu.
The three of them left the house. The sun was already glowing gold.
Night was gradually approaching.
Before leaving, Allen took one last look at the shelter. It was useful, but it simply didn't match their needs.
They had to keep moving, deeper and deeper into Tokyo, searching for everyone's families. Of course, there would be shelters wherever he went, so Allen wasn't worried.
Once they were gone, a small drone reappeared. From a distance, it continued watching the group's movements.
.....
(Half an hour earlier)
Teshima swung his axe at a zombie. It didn't die, so he swung again. The PE teacher couldn't understand how Allen made killing zombies look so easy.
Takeshi smashed a zombie with his bat, knocking it down. It tried to get back up, but Hisashi struck its head with a golf club he had found.
Tsunoda and Imamura, who had come along, hung back without fighting. They were there to carry supplies, but both felt frustrated—one by his uselessness, the other by having to obey others.
Once the two zombies were down, they entered the store. Inside, they were surprised to find a man-the cashier—standing there, dazed, as if in a trance.
"Sir... excuse me."
Teshima tried to wake him, but the man stood still, only blinking.
"Leave him, Teshima-sensei. We need to hurry," Hisashi said, starting to carry a pack of water bottles. In the apocalypse, water was more valuable than gold.
"Don't just stand there," Takeshi ordered while grabbing a bag and stuffing canned food inside.
Takeshi, someone destined to become a survivor, adapted quickly to the situation. While Teshima hesitated over whether they should take things with the clerk right there, the others had no such problem.
Tsunoda and Imamura, both delinquents, had no qualms at all. They headed straight for the storage room and hauled out boxes.
Teshima clenched his fists. He knew there was nothing he could do; he had to prioritize the well-being of his students.
"I'm sorry," Teshima muttered to the man. Not only could he not help him, but paying was pointless now that money was worthless.
....
From the bus, Saya watched as Teshima brought back boxes. She ordered several students to go out and help. Some hesitated, but she reminded them that their survival depended on how much they could contribute.
No sane person would keep parasites around in the apocalypse.
Hirano, who had been keeping an eye on Shido, grew nervous. He didn't want to carry supplies.
"Don't worry, you don't need to. You're our guardian," Kazu smiled, taking the initiative to get off the bus and help.
For a moment, Hirano froze, then a savage grin spread across his face. Gripping his nail gun confidently, he declared:
"Leave it to me! I'll kill any zombie that comes close!"
"Don't shout! Do you want to attract zombies?!" Saya scolded.
"I'm sorry!"
Saya knew she couldn't help Allen in combat, but she didn't want to feel inferior to Rei and Saeko, so she took her role very seriously so that when Allen returned, he would be surprised.
'Hmph, it's not like I want that bastard to praise me,' Saya thought with a frown but red cheeks.
====
A/N: It's a shame that good stories are left without an ending, I was always intrigued to know what kind of HOTD Story it would be if it had not been abandoned.
If you want to read more, there are up to ten chapters ahead on Patreon.
Patreon.com/_Aizen